Battle of Saipan - Chain of Command - Late, Late Night Gaming

Had a late-night gaming session at my buddy's place, after my Rebels and Patriots game earlier in the day. As he only lives a couple of miles away from me, it was no problem. He hosted a great Chain of Command game using a Battle of Saipan scenario. I ran one of the two Japanese platoons trying to keep the American forces from taking an objective at our end of the table. We started at about 7:30pm and finished right at midnite. As my buddy knows the rules very well, he assisted and coached the few of us who don't play it often. In fact, this was only my third time with the rules - in about as many years. I do have to say I like the rules - as long as someone else with experience is GMing. I think I actually have the basics down - like how to use the command dice, movement, and giving and taking casualties. However, even the two most-experienced players had to refer to charts for specific resulting actions. It does have a lot more outcomes and flavor than Bolt Action, which makes it very interesting to play. In any case, my buddy, as usual for him, had setup a great table with lots of nice terrain. The scenario having us in mostly jungle terrain made it difficult to move and see through - 12" range to spot enemy. The Japanese ended up winning the game per the scenario as the American failed to reach the objective (a hut at their far end of the table). They did manage to decimate the Japanese platoon run by the other player though. My platoon of four squads was intact as it held the right flank. The other platoon had a squad in a bunker which ended up being the target of most of the American units. In fact, two platoons of American infantry attacked it for most of the game. The Americans also had three Sherman tanks and they were targeting a squad of Japanese out in the open until it successfully moved into cover, but only after taking numerous casualties. One thing I like about the rules is the intial moving up of Jumping Off Points (I think that's what they're called). The assigning of actions per the command die rolls are also interesting - something Two Fat Lardies incorporates well in their rules, IMO. Here are some pictures taken from the game showing the impressive terrain on the table.

Americans advancing across the stream. The terrain on the bottom right of the picture is light cover (tall grass), but didn't block LOS.

My first Japanese platoon on the table - in Overwatch. My buddy has a bunch of markers for the game.

A Japanese squad from the other platoon. This is the one that got shot up from the Shermans down the road. The marker represents a Jump Off Point - the markers were 3D printed by the GM's brother.

Shermans on the American right flank. A third tank later came on - and they slowly moved up toward the Japanese positions.

My platoon of Japanese in dense cover and in Overwatch. One of the squads had mortars, but due to visibility had to wait until the enemy were 12" away from them or a spotter in another squad of the same platoon. The hootch in the background was the Americans' objective. They never reached it and were bogged down at the bunker in the center of the table. The Japanese also placed minefields out which channelled the Americans' advance.

A shot of the Japanese bunker run my the other player - note the American squads cautiously moving up, avoiding the minefield to their left.

A view of my side of the table - the Japanese right flank. I later used my "Dirty Move" (forgot the actual techincal term of acquiring 6 pips from rolls of 5's) to relocate the Jumping Off Point further back, behind the my platoon. Supposedly the capture of Jumping Off Points creates bad stuff.

The Shermans - which were a US Marine unit - finally moving up along the road. The infantry were US Army units. The Shermans were too heavy to use the wooden bridge over the stream, but could (and one did) ford the stream on the side of the bridge.

American squads advancing on the Japanese bunker. The red dice indicate the amount of Shock taken. The smoke on the far right is from an American mortar - the one on the left edge of the bunker was from one of my squads. It actually landed 6" to left, but a lucky drift roll placed it there. It helped the obcure the bunkers right flank.

As mentioend above, I look forward to playing more Chain of Command games with my buddy, but doubt I will ever get it down enough to be comfortable playing it without an experienced GM. Thanks again for stopping by and hope you enjoyed the pics.